(The Center Square) — New Hampshire lawmakers are making another push to approve a ‘right to work’ law that would limit labor unions from collecting dues from non-members.
A proposal being considered by the House Committee on Labor, Industrial, and Rehabilitative Services would, if approved, allow unionized workers in the private sector to opt out of paying their dues even while continuing to receive the benefits of a collective bargaining agreement.
The proposal is backed by Americans for Prosperity-New Hampshire and other pro-business groups pushing for the changes, which have argued the move would “protect worker freedom” and improve the state’s economic competitiveness.
John Reynolds, New Hampshire state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, said studies have shown that ‘right to work’ laws benefit entrepreneurs, workers and taxpayers by creating higher rates of upward economic mobility and lower rates of poverty and unemployment. He said the proposal would allow New Hampshire to “protect the ability of small businesses and workers to determine their own fates.”
“As New Hampshire seeks to boost economic growth, address chronic workforce shortages, and make the state an even more attractive place to live, Right to Work is the right policy at the right time,” Reynolds said in testimony in support of the bill.
Not surprisingly, union leaders oppose the ‘right to work’ legislation, arguing that it prevents workers from negotiating higher wages and conflicts with contractual agreements between workers and employers.
‘Right to work’ legislation has been debated in New Hampshire for decades but has failed to win enough support to become a law. The Legislature approved a ‘right to work’ bill in 2011 but was vetoed by then-Gov. John Lynch. The most recent effort came in 2021 when Democrats blocked a Republican-led proposal to prevent labor unions from collecting dues from private sector workers.
In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public sector workers cannot be forced to pay fees to unions that represent them in collective bargaining.
The court’s decision ended a provision in 26 other states that required public employees to pay what’s known as “fair share” fees as a condition of employment, even if they don’t want to be union members. The fees are meant to help offset the bargaining and contract administration costs that benefit them.
However, the ruling doesn’t affect private-sector unions unless they represent workers in one of the 27 states with ‘right to work’ laws.
In New Hampshire, about 70,000 employees — or 10% of the workforce — belonged to unions in 2022, with public sector employees representing about two-thirds, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In Congress, Republican lawmakers have introduced several bills to pass a National ‘Right-to-Work’ Act allowing employees to choose not to join a union. To be sure, federal law already prohibits forcing employees to join a union.
“Right to Work laws do exactly one thing: they make union dues a voluntary choice,” Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Committee, said in a statement. “In a Right to Work state, a worker can join a union and pay union dues if he wants, but he cannot ever be fired for choosing not to do so.”
